A MASSIVE smuggling ring which cost the taxpayer nearly £2m has been smashed - with six men put behind bars.

A MASSIVE smuggling ring which cost the taxpayer nearly £2m has been smashed - with six men put behind bars.

The Teesside-based operation brought 10 million illegal cigarettes into the UK, many of which were discovered at a business premises in Billingham.

Investigators from HM Revenues and Customs (HMRC) repeatedly caught the gang red- handed as they delivered and unloaded millions of duty-free cigarettes at locations across the North-east.

Newcastle Crown Court heard three members of the gang were initially caught in May 2008 after HMRC intercepted a shipment of almost six million illicit cigarettes at the premises of Taylor’s Transport Services in Billingham - a haul estimated to be worth more than £1m in lost excise duty.

Despite being caught, the gang continued in their attempts to run their operation, arranging other imports of cigarettes to the same address and others in the region.

To try to conceal their crime the gang smuggled the cigarettes using paperwork that described their cargo as “clothing materials”. On one occasion a van driver tried to persuade HMRC officers his illegal cargo was a van-load of dog food.

HMRC officers made six large seizures from the gang between May and September 2008, intercepting more than 10 million illegal cigarettes. In total, £1,780,000 in tax was evaded.

Seven men appeared before Newcastle Crown Court yesterday on the charge of conspiracy to fraudulently evade excise duty. All but two had pleaded guilty.

Alan Conway, 55, of Snowdon Street, Eston, was jailed for two years.

Gary McPhail, 47, of Broom Close, Stanley, County Durham, and Thomas Griffiths, 50, of Durham Street, Spennymoor, County Durham, were both jailed for 12 months after pleading not guilty but being convicted at trial.

Paul Mallaby, 47, of Denton View, Winlaton, Newcastle, and Kevin Railton, 31, of Garsefield Gardens, Burnopfield, Tyne and Wear, were jailed for two years and eight months.

Michael Nash, 43, of Lewis Close, St Annes, was jailed for 16 months.

Kevin Howard, 43, of Bessimer Street, Ferryhill, County Durham, was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for 12 months with supervision, 100 hours’ community service and ordered to pay £600 costs.

William Gray, 59, of Aldwick Road, Newcastle, is due to be sentenced at a later date.

Keith Taylor, the owner of Taylor’s Transport Services, was acquitted of the conspiracy charge in December 2010.

Another man, from Northumberland, is also thought to have played a key role in the conspiracy but he fled the country in December 2008. An arrest warrant has been issued.

Peter Hollier, HMRC's assistant director for criminal investigation in the North-east said it was one of the biggest smuggling rings ever uncovered on Teesside.

He said: “No matter how many times we caught the gang with smuggled cigarettes they still continued in their attempts to smuggle even more.

“The sentences given are a huge deterrent to anyone who thinks it is a way to make a quick buck and hopefully they will reflect on that in prison.”